Farmbotic Preview: Automation Heaven | PAX East 2026

Ask my friends. I love automation. If you even give me a hint of automating something, I will push the system to its limits so at a click of a button I get what I need almost like those magical science fiction microwaves that give you a chicken dinner in 30 seconds. So when I heard about Farmbotic, a game that mixes the community building of Stardew Valley and the automation of factory games, I had to try this game out and see if it could truly scratch both itches.

The demo at PAX East 2026 was limited to a thirty minute play session and during that time I got to try farming by hand, exploring a cave for materials, meeting the local townsfolk, and setting up the first stages of automation. In the early stages, this game could simply be a farming sim, putting the entire focus on making my farm bigger and better. That gameplay loop alone is enough to make me want to play. What I didn’t expect was the level of narrative taking place. Each character I met has their own motivations and relationships with each other and I’m in the middle figuring out how to navigate this community that I’m new to.

In terms of gameplay there isn’t much new or inventive, letting players who are used to first person sim games like this jump right in with no trouble at all. First, I have to use the garden hoe to prepare the soil, then I plant the seeds, and every day I  water them, until I can get the

cute little robots to take care of all that for me.

Once my thirty minutes were up, one of the devs from Frozen Way loaded up a save that was about five in-game days ahead of where I left off. Showing the level of automation that could be achieved in just a few days has me so excited for this game's release. Tubes were running everywhere feeding machines seeds to plant, wheat to process into bread, and so on. This is the blending of genres that I imagined when I was invited to check the game out. Expect me to show off my green and industrial thumbs in this game, that does a wonderful job of blending gametypes together.